Receptacle and closure therefor



y 30, 1939- A. MERQLLE 2,160,704

RECEPTACLE AND CLOSURE THEREFOR 2 She ets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Sept. 30, 1932 VENTO?- May 30, 1939. A. 1.. MEROLLE RECEPTACLE AND CLOSURE THEREFOR Original Filed Sept. 30, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTOR Patented May 30, 1939 UNITED STATES BEOEPTACIE AND CLOSURE THEREFOR Augustus L. Merolle, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor oi.

one-half to Empire Metal Cap 00., Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 30, 1932, Serial No. 635,585 Renewed November 18, 1938 This invention relates to a receptacle and closure therefor, and particularly to the manner in which the closure is constructed and co-operates with parts of the receptacle to insure retention of the closure in closing position.

A particular object of the invention is to so construct the receptacle and the closure that both may be easily manufactured at a reasonably small expense and so that the closure may be readily and securely connected in closing position upon the receptacle.

A further object is to so construct the closure and the receptacle as to include parts co-operative to efficiently hold the closure in closing position regardless of whether or not a sealing gasket is present between the receptacle and'the closure and even though the inner surface of the top wall of the closure, or of such gasket, may not be in surface contact with the upper edge of the receptacle.

A further object is to so construct the closure and the receptacle as to include thread parts which will become wedged together to in that way hold the closure in closing position even though the closure may have no surface or sealing engaglement against the upper edge of the recepac e.

A further object is to so construct the closure that it may be made of sheet metal formed to include thread lugs for engaging thread parts of the receptacle, and so that its exterior surface when applied onto a receptacle will disclose no evidence whatever of the existence of said thread lugs.

A further object is to so construct the closure that it will include thread lug portions of great strength and of a resilient character such that they will yield sumciently to enable them to mate the thread forming surface ,of the receptacle with 40 increasing accuracy and emciency as the strain upon said thread lug portions is increased by continued manual effort applied to rotate the closure uporvthe receptacle. v

A further object is to so construct the closure that it will include an inturned flange at its lower annular margin of a character to stiffen said margin, and to form portions of said flange to constitue thread lugs thereon, said thread lugs each being constructed to present edge surfaces of the material of the closure throughout substantially the entire extent of said thread lugs,.

for wear against the co-operative thread formations of the closure.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less specific than those referred to above, will bein part obvious and in part pointed out in the course of the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangemen of parts and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contemplated will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown merely a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a transverse vertical sectional view through a closure constructed in accordance with this invention and showing the same as it appears in full closing position upon a receptacle constructed to receive it.

Fig. 2 is a partial bottom plan view of the closure appearing in Fig. 1.

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are fragmentary vertical sectional views taken relatively upon the planes of lines III-III, IV-IV, V-V and VI-VI of Fig. 2 and showing the relationship of the closure and the receptacle.

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but illustrating a modified construction of the lower marginalportion of the closure.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken upon the plane of line VIII-NIH of Fig. 'I.

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. '7 but illustrating a still further modified construction of the lower marginal portion of the closure, and

Figs. 10 and 11 are views similar to Fig. 8 but taken respectively upon the planes of lines X-X and XI-XI of Fig. 9. l

Referring to the drawings for describing in detail the structures as illustratedtherein and referring first to the structure illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, the reference character L indicates the receptacle while the reference character G indicates the closure within whichmay, if desired, be'positioned a suitable liner or gasket element H in the usuafposition for resting over the upper open end of the receptacle.

The receptacle may be made of glass or other suitable material and is formed with a smooth rounded annular bead as I exteriorly thereof spaced downwardly from the upper end surface 2, and a suitable. number of, thread lugs as 3-4 also exteriorly in the space above the bead, l.

The threadlugs 3-3 are suitably spaced, as at. 4, to provide for the entrance between them of the thread lug portions as 5-5 which are provided upon the closure projecting interiorly thereof. I

The upper surfaces as 6-6 of the thread lugs the closureto be moved into a full closing posi-\ tion usually by something less than a one-quarter rotation of the closure.

It is important to note however that it is a feature of the present invention to so form and position the thread lugs 3-4 and the annular bead I that the under-surfaces 8 of the thread lugs will extend downwardly into such close proximity with the upper surface of the bead that when the closure is being rotated to closing position the thread lugs of the closure will .be-

come wedged between said surfaces 8 and the opposing upper surface portions of the bead.

It is also important to note that the lower end portion of each of the surfaces 8, that is approximately between the points indicated X and Y Fig. 1 of the drawings, is almost, but not quite, parallel circumferentially of the closure neck with the upper surface of the head I, the degree of inclinationof said portions X-Y being considerably less than the degree of inclination of the surfaces 8 upwardly .from the point Y. The.

purpose of this construction is that during initial rotary movement of the closure onto the receptacle the thread lugs 5 of the closure will move rapidly in a downward direction but that as the thread lugs approach and pass the point Y the speed of downward movement per unit of retarymovement will be reduced and the amount of the downward'pull per unit or torque applied to rotate the closure will be correspondingly increased due to the increasing cam action incident to the almost horizontal "relationship of the portions x and Y.

- If a gasket, as H, be employed between the closure and the upper surface of the receptacle said gasket may be easily crushed into sealing engagement with the receptacle by the application of only a slight degree of force during its last stages of movement to scaling position.

The nearly parallel relationship between the portions X-Y and the upper surface of the bead l produces acute wedge shaped pockets between said portions and the adjacent upper surface portions of the bead into which the thread lugs 5 of the closure may be forced and wedged to provide suitable frictional engagement between upper and lower surface portions of the lugs on one hand and the surfaces x-Y and the bead ginal flange portion ll bent downwardly from the margin of the top wall 8. At the lower annular edge of the side wall or flange II the ma terial thereof is turned inwardly upon itself to formaninturnedwireedgeasat ,saidwire edge being preferably open'to the interior of.

theclosureasat l2,thatistosaythattheportionofthematerialas i3 whicliistumed nwardly and upwardly within the closure is spaced great strength and stiffness to the lower edge portion of the wall I. and to the closure in general.

\ The circle defined within the closure by the inner surface of the wall portion i8 is, of a diameter approximately corresponding with the diameter of the circle defined by the outer annular surfaces of the thread lugs 8 of the receptacle, or slightly larger so as to just fit loosely about said thread lugs 8 when the closure is being moved onto or off of the receptacle.

At suitable spaced intervals circumferentially of the closure the wall portion i3 instead of being bent into proximate parallelism with the wall portion i8 is so bent or shaped as to constitute the lugs 5 projecting inwardly of the wall portion I! for engaging the under-surface portions 8 of the thread lugs and the upper surface of the bead l of the receptacle as hereinabove referred to.

By reason of the spaced relationship of the wall portions I! from the main wall or flange Ill, and the generous proportions of the curved connecting portion ll between said wall portion l8 and the-wall ill the lugs 5 are rendered quite resilient although strong and substantial, and they' are nevertheless capable of yielding to a considerable extent when pressure is applied to rotate the closure into closing position. The curved portion I4 is particularly effective in providing for the yielding movement of the lugs, an of adjacent parts of the wall portion it at this e.

The number of thread lugs I present upon the closure corresponds of course with the number of thread lugs 3 present uponthe receptacle, and each of said lugs i is identical. The form of the thread lugs 5 is clearly illustrated in Figs. 2 to 6, inclusive. Its leading edge extends abruptly inwardly from the wall portion I! so as to provide a leading wall Ii standing almost radially of .the closure and having its upper edge surface asil standing normally at an incline which is slightly less than the angle of incline ofthe under-surface I of the thread lug 8 of the receptacle, as; clearly indicated particularly in Fig. 3 (see lines A and B).

The portion of the lug which trails behind the wall II tapers gradually'outwardly' to merge again into the wall portion i8 and the inclined surface defined by the upper edge'as I! of this portion of the lug has an inclination approximately the same as that of the upper edge surface I. of the leading wall II, as clearly indicated in the illustrations Figs. 4, 5 and 6, and constitutes the working surface of the lug. From this construction it follows'that during the initial movement of. the closure rota vely "downwardly onto the receptacle the only po tion of each of the thread lugs capable of engaging the under-surface 8 of the receptacle lugs will be the extreme outer gd corners of the lugs, that is at the points indicated l8 in Figs. 2 and 3. As the closure is forcefully rotated to and through its finalstages, and particularly along the portion X-Y of the receptacle lugs, the

, ceptacle, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 1, wherein,

wardly and inwardly from their normal condi- I tions to an abnormal condition wherein the upper edge portions l6 and ll of the lugs are brought, substantially throughout their extent, into parallelism, and hence into sprungsurface contact, with the surface 8 of the receptacle lugs. This action furnishes an increased area and a correspondingly increased frictional grip between the lugs of the closure and the lugs of the reby comparison with Fig. 3, it will be seen that the lug of the closure has been flexed downwardly. and inwardly so that the wall surfaces l6 and",

and the under-surfaces of the lugs 5, all are in surface contact with partsof the receptacle.

It will be apparent that the extent of the surface portions IB and ll of the lugs brought into' surface contact with the under-surface of the thread lugs of the receptacle will increase progressively from a point contact as in Fig. 3 to a complete surface contact as in Fig. 1 as the closure is forcefully rotated toward its final receptacle closing position, the resilient character of the material of the lugs of the receptacle readily permitting distortion of the lugs progressively' to this efiect as greater and greater force is exerted against them.

It is intended that the thread lugs 5 of the closure shall be of such proportions with respect to the size of the opening between the upper possible for a given diameter of receptacle.

surface of the bead I of the receptacle and the lowermost ends of the thread lugs 3 of the receptacle that upon the application of suflicient rotative .torquein applying the closure the thread lugs 5 thereof might be bent or flexed slightly further than as indicated in Fig. 1 such that it would be impossible under ordinary conditions to further rotate the closure. Only under exe treme' rotative torque could the closure be rowhether or not there is any. engagement whatever between the closure and the receptacle at any cther point or points than at the thread lugs of the closure.

The modification illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 is intended to be the same in all respects as the structure already described except that in the structure Figs. '7 and 8 the two wall portions I0 and I 3 are shown as being closer to each other than in the previous figures. It is noted in this connection that the walls 10 and I3 maybe spaced apart any desired distance either, great orsmall or that they may even be brought solid against each other if preferred thereby reducing the over-all diameter-of. the closure to the least The resiliency of the lugs 5 will be relatively greater when the walls are spaced further apart in Figs.

1 to Gthan when they are'closer together as in Fig. 7, this being due to the inherently greater resiliency of the wider expanse of metal con-- stituting the rounded portion I! connecting the walls together, as will be readily understood,

The modification illustrated in Figs. 9 to 11, inclusive, is presented merely as indicating that if desired the lugs 5 of the closure may be made of substantially uniform cross section throughout their length instead of tapering or trailing off as in the previous figures. In this instance the upper edge surfaces iii of both the leading wall l5 and the trailing wall l9 wil1 be of the same inclination as described with respect to the edge surface lt in the previous figures, and the entire upper edge surface as 20 of the inner wall of the lug will provide for initial engagement with the under-surface 8 of the receptacle closure, instead of merely at a single point as l8 inthe previous figures.

A lug constructed as in Figs. 9 to 11, inclusive,

has slightly greater resiliency, other things being equal, than the tapered lug described with respect to the previous figures, this being on account of the fact that in the tapered lug the trailing or tapering. inner wall portion stands relatively more nearly in a vertical position and is hence more difiicult to bend inwardly and downwardly than is the inner wall portion of the lug shown in Figs. 9-11, inclusive. As many changes could be made'in this construction without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims,

it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not-in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: I

1. In combinationwith a receptacle having an outstanding bead formed exteriorly thereon spaced downwardly from its open upper end and having a series of thread lugs exte'riorly in the space between said bead and said upper end each' terminating at its lower end in close proximity to said bead but spaced therefrom, of a closure for said receptacle having thread lugs to engage the thread lugs of the receptacle, said thread lugs of the closure each consisting of a portion of the material of the closure bent inwardly and upwardly at an incline at the lower edge of the closure, the angle of incline of said portion disposing the extreme upper edge of said portion as the working surface of the lug in engagement with the under surface of the thread .lug of the receptacle and disposing the under inclined surface removed from said upperedge in engagement with the bead, the angle of incline of said portion being also such with respect to the under surface of the thread lug of the receptacle that screw movement of the closure onto the receptacle will cam the upper edge of said portion downwardly and inwardly of the closure and said portion where it engages the bead being resiliently bendable under this camming action and adapted thereby to yield bendably about its point of engagement with the bead.

2. A receptacle closure comprising a top wall portion and a pendant marginal cylindrical wall portion terminating at its lower edge in an inwardly and upwardly rolled portion extending between the cylindrical portion and the substantially lowermost point on the roll being sub-.

'stantially constant at all points aroimd the circumference of said marginal wall, said roll terminating in an upwardly facing edge surface within the closure spaced inwardly from the inner surface of said marginal wall throughout the circumference of the closure, the cross sectional curveof said roll from said lower most point inwardly of the closure being struck on a longer radius than said first mentioned curve at spaced points around the circumference of the closure to form inwardly projecting thread lugs at said points having as their working surfaces portions ofsaid upwardly facing edge surface, and the said lcnger radius at said lugs increasing progressively from the trailing to the leading edge of the lug'so that said working surface inclines upwardly and radially outwardly tr'aillngfrom said leading edge inner wall havingparts of itself at intervals around the closure extending further inwardly toward ,the center of the closure than adjacent portions of said inner wall so as to constitute lugs adapted for engaging co-operative lugs of a receptacle to hold the closure in positionupon the receptacle, and the inwardly extending lug founing part being bent so that it extends-abruptly radially, inwardly at the leading edge of the lug and so that its inner edge inclines radially outwardly from the leading ,edge substantiallythroughout the circumferential lengtlfofthe lug;

4, A- receptacle closure formed from a single piece of sheet metal bent to provide a top wall portion anda pendant marginal flange portion, the lower part of the flange being turned inwardly and upwardly to provide an inner wall, said inner. wall having parts of itself at intervals around the closure extending further inwardly toward the center ofthe closure than a'diacent portions of said-inner wall so as to constitute lugs adapted for engaging co-operative lugs of a receptacle to. hold the closure in position upon the. receptacle, and the inwardly extending lug forming part being turned toa relatively lesser degree at adjacent the leading edge of the lug and v to progressively increasing degree trailing from said leadingedge so that the free edge ofsaid lug forming part'provides a working surface inclining upwardly and radially outwardly.'from the leading edge substantially throughout the circumferential length of the lug.

5. A receptacle closure formed from a single piece of sheet metal bent to provide atop wall portion and a pendant marginal flange portion, the lower part of the flange being turned inwardly and upwardly to provide an inner wall, said inner "wall having parts of itself at intervals around the closure extending further inwardly toward the center of the closure than adjacent portions of said inner wall so as to constitute lugs adapted for engaging co-operative lugs of a receptacle to hold the closure in position upon the receptacle, the inwardly extending lugforming part'being turned to a relatively lesser degree at adjacent the leading edge of the lug and to progressively increasing degree trailing from said leading edge so that the free edge of said lug forming part provides a workingsurface inclining upwardly and radially outwardly from the leading edge substantially throughout the circumferential length of the lug, and ,said inwardly extending lug forming part providing also a leading wall of the lug extending at only a small angle to a radius of the closure.

6. A receptacle closure formed from a single piece of sheet metal bent to. provide a top wall portion and a pendant marginal flange portion; the lower part of the flange being turned inwardly and upwardly to provide an innerwall,

said inner wall having parts of itself at intervals around the closure extending further inwardly toward the center of the closure than adja-- cent portions ofsaid inner wall soas to constitute lugs adapted for engaging co-operative lugs of a receptacle to hold the closure inposition upon the receptacle, and the inwardly extending lug forming part being turned to a relatively laser degree at adjacent the leading edge of the lug and to progressively increasing degree trailing from said leading edge thereby provid-v ing an upwardly facing working edge surface of the metal which at a point adjacent to the leading edge ofthe lug is lowest down and nearest I to the center of the closure, and which from said lowest point extends relatively abruptly upwardly and radially outwardly tothe upper edge of said inner wallforwardly of said lowest point, and which from said lowest point extends relatively less abruptly upwardly and outwardly to the upper edge of said inner wall rearwardly of said lowest point. 7

I AUGUSTUS L. MEROLLE. 

